Daily Slideshow: Stripped Down 1976 911 Makes Due With 648WHP!

Days of Japanese Thunder

Ever wonder what happened to all those import (Honda) tuners, those fast and furious, turbo-toting legions who seemed to be everywhere 15 or so years ago? And what about their clients? Did they retire from the hobby, Civics with glued-on Type R badges hiding under tarps in dusty corners of their garages, next to Playskool castles and brand new Honda lawn tractors? In the case of the tuners, guys like 'Bisi Ezerioha went from breaking records with his drag cars, often employing SOHC Honda engines rather than the automakers later DOHC VTEC offerings, to building SEMA show cars with American Honda, and wringing 1004hp out of 2012 Civics.

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Ready for More

Pushing over 1000hp out of anything is enough to get anybody's attention, and it got the attention of the Honda kids, who by now had grown up and into Porsches. Clients of 'Bisi's tuning company, Bisimoto, were increasingly making the transition to road racing and wanted to know if he would consider pivoting into flat-sixes. Bisimoto had built a following not only for 1000hp dyno runs but also for supplying their own built-to-spec parts (camshafts, connecting rods, valves, headers, etc)—and especially for being wizzes with AEM Engine Management Systems boxes. What's a company with so much brand-specific knowledge to do when presented with a totally foreign challenge? Start over? Not hardly. As we'll see, they found a way to put that knowledge to use.

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In with the New

'Bisi had always liked the way 930s looked—who doesn't—so when he acquired a 1976 911 his path was clear. Immediately, his tuning experience came into play and he realized the power he wanted to make would generate more heat than an air-cooled engine could handle. 'Bisi did what he'd made his career doing—he swapped in the engine he wanted. In this case that meant an affordable-but-capable 996 unit, with a 997 six-speed along with it. To ensure the new powerplant would live through what he had planned for it, 'Bisi rebuilt it and plumbed in a custom radiator set-up that takes air in through the front bumper, and exhausts it under the car.

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Trial and Error

'Bisi moved on to the heart of the matter, and the heart of many of his Honda builds—Turbonetics turbochargers. Boxer engines being new territory for 'Bisi, he decided to start small and work his way up giant: the first turbos he fit onto the 3.4-liter made 1400hp! He wasn't at all happy with the lag though and worked his way down to smaller, and again smaller units. The 61mm turbochargers currently on the car enable the 996 engine to pump out 648hp at the wheels on 11 pounds of boost. The turbos use a Turbonetics Godzilla blow-off valve and an RG-45 wastegate each that dump out the back in a sort-of reverse 935 configuration. To keep up with the fuel needs of the engine, 'Bisi fit a Holly Dominator fuel pump feeding custom Bisimoto 1000cc injectors.

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Black Box

Bisimoto's specialty AEM EMS computer joins their injectors and go-to turbos on the 911. The AEM black box, originally designed to run a Honda V6, receives signals from an AEM boost solenoid and throttle-by-wire system. With the help of Honda-specialist Ryan Basseri, 'Bisi rewired the entire car, and the resulting system is fully programmable for any and every application the 911 might face—from no-holds-barred track tune to commuter-friendly economy—and can even be used to optimize traction control.

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The View

Aside from the blinding high-polish turbos peaking out from the void in the rear bumper, the first thing one notices is the unique color of the car. The 911 wears 'Bisi's signature shade, 'Bisimoto Electric blue,' all of it that is except for the Carbon Creations GT concept 1 wing, held up by a structure that doubles as an air intake for the engine compartment. The front bumper and side skirts are held on by quick-change Dzus fasteners, and generous flares house 11-inch wide front, and 13-inch wide rear, white Eins Gramm 18-inch diameter wheels that complement the electric blue paint perfectly. Will Bisimoto's first Porsche mark the beginning of a new era of Porsche tuning? If not they can always go back to the 1400hp set-up and never look back.

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